Spring 2016 FAH 220:
Seminar in Medieval Art:
Relics and Reliquaries
Professor Karen Overbey
[email protected]
office hours:
Wednesdays 1:00-2:30 pm
and by appointment
For medieval Christians, saints’ bodies existed simultaneously in heaven and on earth,
and their material remains were powerful sites of intercession and transformation. The
shrines and reliquaries that contained holy relics did much more than protect and
enclose: they provided persuasive histories for relics, connected saint to community,
and negotiated the distance between interior and exterior.
In this seminar, we explore the shifting strategies of representation and ritual that made
reliquaries meaningful. Readings and discussions focus on issues such as theologies of
fragmentation; relic thefts and collecting; body-part reliquaries; materials and materiality;
medieval relic collections; and the socio-political roles of relics and reliquaries.
Requirements
Attendance and participation in all seminar meetings, including: preparation of
readings and discussion questions; contribution to shared research resource
project (see assignment on Trunk); co-leading discussion session; review and
feedback of peer projects
Research project, including: proposal; annotated bibliography; oral presentation;
draft; 45-minute presentation of research; revised research paper (20-25 pages);
online research updates and discussions
Texts and Readings
Most assigned readings will be available either digitally (PDF, online text, or E-book) or
on library reserve. The following texts will be used regularly and provide excellent
overviews of the topic:
Treasures of Heaven exhibition catalog (New Haven: Yale UP, 201
Cynthia Hahn, Strange Beauty: Issues in the Making and Meaning of Reliquaries, 400circa 1204 (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2012)
Medieval Reliquaries: Calendar
26 January:
Intro to Relics and Reliquaries
02 February:
Cult of the Saints
09 February:
Research Resources and Guides
resources assignment due
preliminary proposals due online by 2.15
16 February:
Social Life of Relics
23 February:
Sacred Commodities
bibliographies and research updates online
01 March:
Bodies and Body Parts
08 March:
Materials and Materiality
15 March:
Visuality, Collection, and Display
22 March:
no class meeting: Spring Break
29 March:
Presentations/Drafts annotated bibliography due
05 April:
Presentations/Drafts
12 April:
Presentations/Drafts
19 April:
Presentations/Drafts
26 April:
Conclusions
revised papers due by 10 May, noon
Learning Objectives
In this seminar, students will deepen their knowledge of medieval art, and their ability to
contextualize its historical and cultural significance. The seminar also aims to advance
the ability to conduct art historical research; oral presentation skills; critical thinking
ability in response to scholarly literature; and understanding of disciplinary history,
theories, and methods.
Course Policies
All work is due as noted on the course calendar and/or Trunk.
No late work will be accepted for this course without prior written permission of the
instructor. (Emailing me the night before an assignment is due does not constitute
permission.)
Arrangements for extensions are at the instructor’s discretion, and may include a grade
reduction.
Most assignments may be turned in as PDFs or other electronic documents. Computer
and/or printer failure will not be considered a valid excuse for late or missing
assignments.
Keep a copy of all assignments until you receive your final grade for the course.
Unless specifically requested, do not submit assignments as email attachments.
If you are absent from class be prepared for the next meeting by following the syllabus.
Attendance at all class meetings is expected. More than one absence will result in a
lower grade, as will excessive lateness. Do not enroll in this class if you have
foreseeable scheduling conflicts. Excused absences must be documented as
emergencies by your academic Dean or advisor.
Especially in the work of the course that is collaborative, be respectful of the members of your
team in organizing and planning your work.
Policy on Plagiarism
Plagiarism is intellectual theft, using someone else’s words and/or ideas as if they were your
own; plagiarism is dishonorable, and a violation of Tufts’ policies on academic ethics and
integrity. You are responsible for educating yourself about what constitutes plagiarism; please
read the policies on Academic Integrity, and speak with me if you have any questions. Tufts’
Academic Integrity policy is available
online: http://uss.tufts.edu/studentaffairs/publicaionsandwebsites/Academicintegrity.pdf
Accommodations
Students with accommodation needs must register with Student Services, and inform instructor
within the first two weeks of the semester, so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
Reading List (subject to change)
02 Feb The Cult of the Saints
Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints 1-22 + 69-85
Cynthia Hahn, Strange Beauty 4-29 + 45-64
Patrick Geary, Living with the Dead in the Middle Ages 163-176
Primary texts: see Trunk site
16 Feb Social Life of Relics and Reliquaries
This topic focuses on pilgrimage, liturgy, and politics: the ways in which relics and reliquaries
functioned in medieval society. Readings will introduce issues of patronage and ideology (both
ecclesiastical and secular), as well encounters with reliquaries in medieval communities.
Treasures of Heaven, 99-115 (Palazzo, “Relics, Liturgical Space, and the Theology of the
Church”)
Strange Beauty, 145-160 (Ch 9, “Reliquaries in Action”)
Sarah Blick, “Common Ground: Reliquaries and the Lower Classes in Late Medieval Europe,” in
Matter of Faith: An Interdisciplinary Study of Relics and Relic Veneration in the Medieval Period,
ed. J Robinson, L de Beer, and A Harnden (London, 2014), 110-115 [Tisch reserve]
Cynthia Hahn, “Voices of the Saints: Speaking Reliquaries,” Gesta 36/1 (1997): 20-31 [JSTOR]
Thomas Head, “Art and Artifice in Ottonian Trier,” Gesta 36/1 (1997): 65-82 [JSTOR]
Lisa Ciresi, “Of Offerings and Kings: The Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne and the Aachen
Karlsschrein and Marienschrein in Coronation Ritual,” in Reliquaire im MIttelalter, ed. B
Reudenbach and G Toussaint (Berlin, 2005), 165-185 [PDF]
Karen Overbey, Sacral Geographies: Saints, Shrines, and Territory in Medieval Ireland
(Turnhout, 2011), pp 21-42 (“Introduction: the Space of the Holy Body”) [Tisch reserve/PDF]
Karen Overbey, “Taking Place: Reliquaries and Territorial Authority in the Bayeux Embroidery,”
in The Bayeux Tapestry: New Interpretations, ed. M Foys, K Overbey, and D Terkla
(Woodbridge, 2009), 36-50
Patrick Geary, Living with the Dead in the Middle Ages pp 95-124 (Chapter 5, “Humiliation of
Saints” and Chapter 6, “Coercion of Saints”) [e-book, Tisch] [suggested]
23 Feb Sacred Commodities
The readings for this week’s discussion concern issues circulation, distribution, and economics
— including how relics were fragmented, stolen, and exchanged; connections between
Byzantium and the West; and the sources of precious materials for reliquaries.
Patrick Geary, Living with the Dead in the Middle Ages, pp 194-218 (Chapter 10, “Sacred
Commodities”) [e-book]
Patrick Geary, Furta Sacra: thefts of relics in the central Middle Ages (Princeton, 1991), 44-86
(Chapter 3, “The Professionals” and Chapter 4, “Monastic Thefts”) [e-book]
Treasures of Heaven, 137-147 (Bagnoli, “The Stuff of Heaven: Materials and Craftsmanship in
Medieval Reliquaries”)
Strange Beauty, 223-244 (Ch 13, “The Impact of 1204”)
Sharon Farmer, “Low Country Aesthetics and Oriental Luxury: Jacques de Vitry, Marie of
Oignies, and the Treasures of Oignies,” in History in the Comic Mode, ed. R Fulton and B
Holsinger (New York, 2007), 205-222 [Tisch reserve/PDF]
Holger Klein, “Eastern Objects and Western Desires: Relics and Reliquaries between
Byzantium and the West,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 58 (2004): 283-314
Strange Beauty, Ch 12 209-221 (“A Case Study: Wibald of Stavelot as Patron”) [suggested]
1 March Bodies and Body Parts
The readings for this week begin with historical material about theologies of bodily
fragmentation, and continue on to specific studies of body-part reliquaries — this week’s
readings come primarily from Caroline Bynum and Cynthia Hahn.
Caroline Waker Bynum, The Resurrection of the Body (New York, 1995), pp 117-155 and 200225 (Chapter 3, “Reassemblage and Regurgitation” and Chapter 5, “Resurrection, Heresy, and
Burial ad sanctos”)
Caroline Walker Bynum and Paula Gerson, “Body-Part Reliquaries and Body Parts in the Middle
Ages,” Gesta 36/1 (1997): 3-7
Strange Beauty, 67-71 (Ch 4, “Spolia and Sign, Metaphor and Simile”)
Strange Beauty, 117-133 (Ch 7, “Heads”)
Strange Beauty, 134-141 (Ch 8, “Other Body Parts”)
Joan Holladay, “Relics, Reliquaries, and Religious Women: Visualizing the Holy Virgins of
Cologne,” Studies in Iconography 18 (1997): 1-39 [PDF]
Further Reading:
Madeline Caviness, “The Broken Mirror: Parts, Relics, Freaks,” chapter 3 from Visualizing
Women in the Middle Ages: Sight, Spectacle, and Scopic Economy (Philadelphia, 2001), 125174 [Tisch reserve + Dept lounge]
Bruno Reudenbach, “Visualizing Holy Bodies: Observations on Body-Part Reliquaries,” in
Romanesque: Art and Thought in the Twelfth Century, ed. C Hourihane (Princeton, 2008), 95106
Other essays in Gesta 36/1 (1997)
7 March Materials and Materiality
This topic builds on previous discussions of economics, craftsmanship, and symbolism to
investigate the relationship between materials and meaning in medieval reliquaries. Several
articles focus on various aspects of gemstones, and this topic includes some technical essays
on conservation and scientific discoveries.
Strange Beauty, 31-44 (Ch 2, “The Reliquary and Its Maker”)
Strange Beauty, 103-116 (Ch 6, “Like and Unlike Metaphors”)
Brigitte Buettner, “From Bones to Stones — Reflections on Jeweled Reliquaries,” in Reliquaire
im MIttelalter, ed. B Reudenbach and G Toussaint (Berlin, 2005), 43-59 [PDF]
Karen Overbey, “Seeing through stone: Materiality and place in a medieval Scottish pendant
reliquary,” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 65/66 (2014/2015): 242-258
Eliza Garrison, “A Curious Commission: The Reliquary of St Servatius in Quedlinburg,” Gesta
49/1 (2010): 17-29
G Gates, S La Niece, and T Drayman-Weisser, “A Shrine Reunited?: The Collaborative,
Scientific Study of Two Reliquary Panels from the Walters Art Museum and the British
Museum,” in Matter of Faith: An Interdisciplinary Study of Relics and Relic Veneration in the
Medieval Period, ed. J Robinson, L de Beer, and A Harnden (London, 2014), 116-125 [Tisch
reserve]
M van Bellegem and L de Beer, “The Construction and Conservation History of the Hildesheim
Portable Altar,” in Matter of Faith: An Interdisciplinary Study of Relics and Relic Veneration in
the Medieval Period, ed. J Robinson, L de Beer, and A Harnden (London, 2014), 126-136 [Tisch
reserve]
S Reisman Pain, D B Saja, and L B Spurlock, “New Discoveries Related to the Portable Altar of
Countess Gertrude,” in Matter of Faith: An Interdisciplinary Study of Relics and Relic Veneration
in the Medieval Period, ed. J Robinson, L de Beer, and A Harnden (London, 2014), 137-142
[Tisch reserve]
Further reading:
• Caroline Walker Bynum, Christian Materiality: An Essay on Religion in Late Medieval
Europe (New York, 2011)
• John Cherry, Goldsmiths (Toronto, 1992) [Tisch reserve]
• Stefania Gerevini, “Christus crystallus: Rock Crystal, Theology, and Materiality in the
Medieval West,” in Matter of Faith: An Interdisciplinary Study of Relics and Relic
Veneration in the Medieval Period, ed. J Robinson, L de Beer, and A Harnden (London,
2014), 92-99 [Tisch reserve]
• Ittai Weinryb, “Beyond Representation: Things — Human and Non-Human,” in Cultural
Histories of the Material World, ed. Peter N. Miller (Ann Arbor, 2013), 172-186 [PDF]
• Beate Fricke, “Matter and Meaning and Mother of Pearl: The Origins of Allegory in the
Spheres of Things,” Gesta 51/1 (2012): 35-54
• Christina Normore, “Navigating the World of Meaning,” Gesta 51/1 (2012): 19-34
15 March Visuality, Collection, Display
This discussion topic will explore the physical presentation and reception of reliquaries, and the
theories and theologies of vision and sight that underpinned the medieval cult of relics — it will
also draw on modern/post-modern discourses of spectacle, performativity, and aesthetics.
Strange Beauty, 199-208 (Ch 11, “Relic Display”)
Treasures of Heaven, 55-68 (Klein, “Sacred Things and Holy Bodies: Collecting Relics from
Late Antiquity to the Early Renaissance”)
Cynthia Hahn, “The Meaning of Early Medieval Treasuries”, in Reliquiare im Mittelalter 1-20
[PDF]
Cynthia Hahn, “Seeing and Believing: The Construction of Sanctity in Early Medieval Saints’
Shrines,” Speculum 72 (1997): 1079-1106
Seeta Chaganti, The Medieval Poetics of the Reliquary (New York, 2008), pp 19-45 (Chapter 1,
“The Poetics of Enshrinement”)
Cynthia Hahn, “Relics, Reliquaries, Relation, and Response,” introductory essay to the
exhibition Objects of Devotion and Desire [link on Trunk]
Further Reading
Gia Toussaint, “Die Sichtebarkeit des Gebeins im Reliquiar” in Reliquaire im
Mittelalter, pp 89-106
Scott B. Montgomery, St Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins of Cologne (2010)
Erik Inglis, “Art as Evidence in Medieval Relic Disputes: Three Cases from Fifteenth-Century
France,” in Matter of Faith: An Interdisciplinary Study of Relics and Relic Veneration in
the Medieval Period, ed. J Robinson, L de Beer, and A Harnden (London, 2014), 159163 [Tisch reserve]